The Evolution of EU’s Neighbourhood policy Towards eastern Europe

Özet:

This article analyses the EU’s evolving relations with its eastern neighbourhood
since the early 2000s, focusing on the diverging geographical preferences among
the member states vis-à-vis the neighbourhood. In the past decade, the eastern shift
of the EU borders in 2004 and 2007 paved the way for a significant increase in the
political and financial commitments of the EU to its eastern neighbours. An EU
level debate was launched regarding the need to enhance security and stability in
the eastern neighbourhood in view of the then forthcoming enlargement. In 2004,
the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was put forward as a new foreign
policy tool that integrated EU policies towards its eastern and southern
neighbourhood under a single framework. However, the launch of the Eastern
Partnership policy in 2009 demonstrated that a consensus has been developed
among the member states with respect to enhanced bilateral and multilateral
cooperation with the region. The article also evaluates the success of the Eastern
Partnership policy regarding transformation of the relations between the EU and
its eastern neighbours.